Rippling Pages: Interviews with Writers

Welcome to an episode of Ask the Host, i.e. with me, Liam! This the podcast where writers get real about writing, but today, we're getting real about podcasting! In today's episode of Ask the Host, we're finding out: - What's the difference between the live coffee conversations and remote interviews> - My summer book preview and reading list? - Where have we been for Leeds Lit Fest? What is the hottest new literary salon on the scene? And looking forward to my event with Alice Hattrick - What's the origin story of the podcast? Enjoy and let me know if you've got any questions when you leave a review of my show! Tickets to the Rippling Pages Live at Leeds Literature Festival with Alice Hattrick https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/ Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Books Jan Carson Raoul de Jong  John Eyck Neil Griffiths  Alice Hattrick Stu Hennigan  M. John Harrison - The end of everything  Hanna Nordenhök - Caesaria Agnes Lidbeck  Fernanda Melchor  Sara Mesa Jake Morris Campbell - A journey onto the salt and ash Flann O'Brien The Rickard Sisters  Keith Ridgway - Dooneen  C.D. Rose Guillermo Stitch - The Coast of Everything  Saskia Vogel Katie Whittemore Alice Evelyn Yang - A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing  

Let's dust off the archives again and celebrate some of the guests we've had on the Rippling Pages This time, we're going back to a conversation that was had in 2022 with the writer, editor, and all around bookish good guy, Nicholas Royle. I spoke to Nicholas about his wonderful book about book collecting, WHITE SPINES:THE CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK COLLECTOR Chances are, if you've a penchant for second-hand books, you'll have been or known about one of the many bookshops Nicholas visited to find the Picador books that he coveted. We're also celebrating Leeds Literature Festival. The book features Leeds bookshops, and Nicholas is in Leeds talking about the art of the short story with Alice Jolly and Naomi Booth.  Get your tickets below Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.  https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/ Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Reference Points Writers and Books AJ Ashworth Andrea Ashworth The Lake John Foxx (Nightjar Press) M. John Harrison Anna Kavan - Ice (Picador: 1967) Alberto Manguel (editor) Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature (Picador: 1983) Livi Michael - The Lake (Nightjar Press) Alison Moore Nicholas Royle - First Novel (Vintage: 2013) Nicholas Royle - Counterparts (Penguin: 1995) Nicholas Royle - Ornithology (Confingo: 2017) Nicholas Royle - An English Guide to Bird Watching (Myriad Editions: 2017) Nicholas Royle - Uncanny (Manchester University Press: 2003) Per Wahlöö - The Lorry (Picador: 1972) Conrad Williams Artists Paul Delvaux Salvador Dali Chapters 3.00 - when did he first see the white spines? 7.00 - what was special about the books 9.00 - why write this book 12.15 - Writing a quest 14.45 - is it about confession or obsession  18.10 - giving second life to writers 19.35 - second hand bookshops  24.55 - tactile nature of books  26.09 - sharing names and uncanniness  28.15 - two Nicholas Royles 30.30 - dreams and realities of being a writer 34.45 - nightjar press

The podcast for the world's most interesting writers is going a little closer to home; we're visiting Leeds and the North of England for a conversation about with Stu Hennigan about his novel, KESHED.  Not only is it lovely to speak about some of the places I know really well, but also a bittersweet too, as Stu's novel reminds of me of the people and places I've moved away from.  What I loved about Stu's novel, is its sheer vividness of its writing, combining, artfully, the vernacular and the obscene. It's evocations of northern town and cities that are close to me, but also its unflinching approach to troubling subject matter. Stu Hennigan is a writer, poet, editor, and musician based in Leeds, UK. His acclaimed book, Ghost Signs: Poverty and the Pandemic, became notable for its powerful documentary fo the  city's most deprived communities during COVID-19 lockdown. KESHED, published by Ortac Press, is his first novel.  *this episode features strong language and discussion of sensitive themes!* Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.  https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/ Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Stu's Substack: https://stuhennigan.substack.com   References Writers Martin Amis Jenn Ashworth Charles Baudelaire Naomi Booth James Clark  Owen Jones Alice Jolly Alice Murphy-Pyle Ben Myers Annie Proulx Music Arab Strap Jimi Hendrix  Film and TV The Royle Family Ken Loach Chapters 1.45 - Uncategorising KESHED 6.15 - What is KESHED about 8.45  - why is Sean in Leeds.  9.55 - Is Sean a flaneur?  16.05 - Sean's voice  19.20 - The importance of reading  20.10 - On truth 25.25 - Liam's personal response to the book.  27.45 - Patreon shoutouts! 28.45 - Who is Mandy? 31.20 - Getting feedback on writing women 36.00 -the hard work of writing  37.30 - Assuming readers are smarter than you 38.45 - Language is not a barrier  40.15 - The market of writing 

Amber Medland is here to tell us about what it's like to be in an anthology with George Saunders, overcoming writers block, and telling us whether it's magic or mechanics that makes a story. Amber has been collated in one of the most select short story anthologies likely to hit the shelves this year. Magic and Mechanics (Scratch Books) features some of the most talented short story writers short stories alongside interviews about those stories. The anthology about the art and craft of the short story features writers such as George Saunders, Claire-Louise Bennett, Mark Haddon, Camilla Grudova, and Colin Barrett.  Amber tells me about her story, Mr Blythe Esq.  Amber's debut novel, WILD PETS, was published by Faber and Faber, and her book of non-fiction, ATTENTION SEEKER:THE TRUTH ABOUT ADHD, her exploration of the history of ADHD, was published by Dialogue Books. She has an MFA from Columbia University.  Links to heighting your Rippling Pages Experience Tickets to me in conversation with Alice Hattrick.  https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/ Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  2.20 - what's it like being in the anthology with George Saunders 4.05 - is writing magic more mechanics? 6.10 - what is Amber's story about? 8.30 - the relationship between the two 10.00 - what is left out of a story? 12.50 - who is Mr Blythe? 14.15  - Power dynamics and musicality 17.30 - sentences on the ear  20.10 - taking creative writing MFAs 21.55 - writer's block 26.00 - Taking the weight from writing. 27.38 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 28.40 - what does it mean to have confidence as a writer. 33.00 - food in Amber's writing. 35.00 - Amber writing about ADHD 39.55 - writing about attentiveness Referenc Points Writers Claire-Louise Bennett Lucy Caldwell  George Saunders Joy Williams  Films Fantasia  Musicians Harry Styles

Let's dust off the archives and celebrate some of the guests we've had on the Rippling Pages. This is a re-release of a previous episode with Polly Barton. Over the years, we've been proud to feature emergent writers on the Rippling Pages and speak to them in the early stages of their careers. One of those writers is Polly Barton, who's just released her debut novel, WHAT AM I, A DEER? with Fitzcarraldo Editions. I spoke to Polly five years ago about her Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize winning, FIFTY SOUNDS.  Polly is a writer and translator from Japanese. Translations include Butter by Asako Yuzuki, Hunchback by Saul Ichikawa, and Where the Where the Wild Ladies Are by Akko Matsuda. Her essay, Porn: An Oral History was also published by Fitzcarraldo Editons.  In our conversation, we picked out knotty debates about language, her time in Japan, and what it means to love and love in language Enjoy! If you fancy hearing another Fitzcarraldo essayist, why not buy tickets for my event with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest: https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/ Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Chapters 3.00 - What are the Fifty Sounds 5.40 - what is the philosophy behind the bok 10.00 - Wittgenstein 14.30 - Embarrasment, error and comedy 16.15 - Binaries 20.15 - Outsiders and immersion 21.45 - Language games 24.14 - Structuring the book 28.00 - Japan as a man 31.45 - Loving language and people Reference Points Ludwig Wittgenstein

Camille Bordas likes miniature objects.  It's how they remind her of her childhood in Mexico and show off little details. In fairness, it might once have been a lighter for Camille, but she still has them all.  This is bonus content on the Rippling Pages where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during their writing process. You're also going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast for Patreon subscribers. Do that here: https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi You'll also hear a little more about Camille's experience of writing in French and English.  Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Tickets for live in conversation with Alice Hattrick at Leeds Lit Fest: https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/events/alice-hattrick-fancy-work/   Chapters 2.20 - Objects of influence; miniature objects 7.50 - Patreon preview  9.25 - Camille writing in French and English 

Camille Bordas is one heck of an exciting literary talent, and she's joining me on the Rippling Pages to discuss her story collection, ONE SUN ONLY (Serpent's Tail). What I loved about these stories is their wonderfully dry humour, empathetic narratives of flawed characters, and deeply woven observations, within the stories, about how fiction works.  Plaudits for Camille have come from George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Percival Everett. She's a regular contributor to the New Yorker. Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    1.30 - bad backs and teaching 4.00 - writing and talking about death  8.45 - creating character dynamics  11.10 - camille's sociology background 12.45 - experimenting in stories and novels   15.10 - writing in French and English 17.40 - Rippling pages Patreon 19.55 - animation and jokes 22.15 - what animates a language 24.30 - writing dialogue  26.30 - misunderstanding ourselves  28.45 - illness and self growth  30.15 - plotting 33.30 - how sopranos helps with plotting  36.35 - recreating scenes from the sopranos 39.00 - acting and writing Reference Points Donald Barthelme  Delphine Horvilleur Karl Ove Knausgård Gwendoline Riley Katharina Volckmer    TV The Sopranos

It's Easter - and it's easter egg time. In this bonus content, you're going to hear a lot about Easter Eggs, but not the chocolate kind. Instead, we're talking those little secret insights to Lucy's work, both past, present and future. This is bonus content and our objects of influence segment where we ask a writer to provide us with an object that has been with them during the writing of the book. It's also a little Easter Egg from the Rippling Pages too. You're going to hear a snippet of the Patreon close-reads podcast for subscribers. If you like the sound of it, you can sign up for exclusive member benefits, including the full close read podcast exclusive to subscribers. Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages. https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi    Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience: Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Chapters - Close Read Patreon Preview 1.45 - Objects of Influence - 3.55 Reference Points Anton Chekhov Hamlet Taylor Swift

Oh wow! It was my pleasure to have a coffee with and speak to the writer Lucy Caldwell about her new short story collection, DEVOTIONS (published by Faber and Faber). That's right, we were live and in person having a coffee talking about Lucy's new collection I revelled in a theatre troupe performing a choose your own version of Hamlet; I had a wry smile watching Christopher Plummer ponder on whether he really did love Julie Andrews, and among the many other stories, continued to marvel at Lucy's capacity to meditate on death, existence, light and love. Lucy is from Belfast. She lives in Kent, but we had our conversation in London.  Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Chapters 2.00 - is 'master' the right word? 7.15 - Devotions forming a single whole 9.15 Lucy's relationship with her editor 12.50 - writing in real-time  16.50 - Choose your own adventure stories. 18.10 - Hamlet. 21.10 - Writing about love 26.05 - Devotions easter egg! 28.35 finding meaning in the here and the now.  32.20 - Patreon shoutouts! 33.50 - inspired by James Joyce 37.26 - writing great psychic movements. 42.00 - Special writing from Lucy.  46.45 - Finding meaning in the darkness 51.25 - Suffering as a portal.  Reference Points Sebastian Barry Elizabeth Bowen Willa Cather Anton Chekhov Dante Ram Dass John Donne T.S. Eliot Anne Enright Wendy Erskine bell hooks Kazuo Ishiguro James Joyce Claire Kilroy Rosamond Lehman Louis MacNeice Alice Munro Cardinal Newman Edna O'Brien Frank O'Hara Rumi Helen Simpson John Updike Sylvia Townsend Warner Virginia Woolf W.B. Yeats Lucy's Work Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (edited by Lucy, Faber, 2021) Multitudes (Faber, 2016) Intimacies (Faber, 2021) Leaves (Faber: 2007) Where They Were Missed (Faber: 2005) Plays Hamlet Music Ludwig van Beethoven Van Morrison Taylor Swift Films The Sound of Music (1965: Robert Wise)  

Welcome to this bonus content with Leon Craig. We're talking about how Leon found an old letter knife in a shop which helped her understand her characters desires. PLUS! You'll hear Leon talking about plagues, the pandemic, and why she left the UK to write her novel about the UK.   Leon was here to discuss THE DECADENCE (Sceptre), a novel about a group of friends who find shelter in an old abandoned home, but encounter more than they bargained for. Leon Craig, whose previous collection of short stories, PARALLEL HELLS, was also published by Sceptre, is a graduate of the Birkbeck MFA Creative Writing course. Her work has been published by Hazlitt, the Sunday Times, the London Magazine and others and is forthcoming in Nulla magazine and Berlin Babel anthology.   Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

I'm looking forward to diving into the crumbling and the haunted this week with Leon Craig.  We're discussing Leon Craig's THE DECADENCE. And you the listener picked Leon as one of the rising stars of literature that you wanted me to interview. Have you ever walked past an old abandoned house and wondered what kinds of lives were lived there? Have you ever dared to explore one? Perhaps you wanted to escape and hide in the house. Or perhaps you wanted to use it for something a little more nefarious. Leon Craig, whose previous collection of short stories, PARALLEL HELLS, was also published by Sceptre, is a graduate of the Birkbeck MFA Creative Writing course. Her work has been published by Hazlitt, the Sunday Times, the London Magazine and others and is forthcoming in Nulla magazine and Berlin Babel anthology.   Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Episode Chapters 1.30 - rising literary stars poll 3.30 - The crumbling haunted house 6.30 - the ensemble cast  7.25 - early hauntings.  10.10 - misunderstandings and humour  11.50 -embracing imperfect characters. 14.25 - secret passageways  16.05 - sexual elements to hauntings.  19.10 - colonial legacies and trespassing 22.55 - Rippling Pages Patreon 24.20 - on beauty   27.00 - getting what we want.  29.50 - desire and disgust  32.00 - The country housegenre 37.15 - Leon's next novel   Reference Points House of Leaves (2000, Mark Z. Danielewski). Saltburn (2023, dir. Emerald Fennell) Beowulf The Great Gatsby (1925, F.Scott Fitzgerald) White is for Witching(2009, Helen Oyeyemi) Brideshead Revisited (1945, Evelyn Waugh)

We're going to the Slovenian coast this week during the final years Yugoslavia with Ana Schnabl.  Dunja has finally launched her literary career, but the shadow and spectre of her brother's death haunts both her and her family. What happens when she returns to investigate her brother's death? And what happens when the truth becomes stranger than the fiction she writes? Ana Schnabl's novel is published by Divided Publishing. Ana is a Slovenian writer, and this is her second novel to be translated into English, by Rawley Grau. Her first novel to be translated into English was The Masterpiece, that time by David Limon. In Slovenia, she is a winner of Slovenia's prestigious literary prize, the Kresnik award. She's also a regular contributor to the journal The Guardian, writing on Balkan politics and culture. Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Episode Chapters 1.30 - Ana's based in Slovenia 2.35 - Fake crime novels 3.50 - Djuna's relationship with her dead brother. 5.30 - Why has Djuna returned? 7.30 - Family dynamics.  9.00 - Rockstars and the Slovene transition 10.35 - Michael Jackson 13.30 - a fake crime novel 15.00 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 16.00 - Not liking modernist novels 19.45 - Writing cerebral characters 21.00 - Sentimental feelings about home 24.15 - Ice cream and the Adriatic coast 27.30 - Not believing in legacies. 30.30 sitting with unpleasant people. 31.50 - who helps Djuna. 33.45 - Smoking   Reference Points Agatha Christie  Marcel Proust Virginia Woolf

What a lovely time I had speaking and sitting with Eva Meijer, the Dutch Author, in Leeds to discuss their novel SEA NOW.  A government who seems slow to respond to a rapidly encroaching crisis. Marketing executives exploiting ways to make quick cash. A missing Prime Minister. Leavers and remainers conflicted about the right course of action. It all sounds like a playbook for our recent political crises. But when the dams start bursting in the Netherlands and the country rapidly begins to flood and be subsumed, what happens when people are faced with the unthinkable in this new waterworld.  These are the questions at the heart of Eva Meijer's, SEA NOW, translated by Anne Thompson Melo, and published by Peirene Press. Other useful links to heighten your Rippling Pages experience: Get exclusive subscriber benefits from the Rippling Pages.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Check out the Rippling Pages Bookshop and buy all the books featured on the Rippling Pages: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Chapters 2.25 - what is the novel about 4.25 - a human and animal story 7:45 - how people respond to the crisis in the book 11.15 - is the novel represent human experience 13.45 - widescreen viewpoints 17.45 - why is the sea so powerful 21.20 - the Rippling Pages Bookshop 23.10 - why do characters stay? 25.40 - is there hope in the novel 27.15 - endings and new beginnings and grief  30.30 - objects of influence  36.40 - Patreon subscriber shoutout! Reference Points Don DeLillo

Happy New Year! I'm delighted to bring you some more unedited and bonus content from my Christmas and New Year special with Madeleine Dunnigan and Farah Ali. There was just so much good stuff in our craft and curation special, that I wanted to bring you a little more to start the year.  These books are going to be spoken about in literary circles in January.  In Pakistan, a young woman grapples with a strange, indefinable illness against a backdrop of political upheaval. In England, a teenager tries to make sense of his intense emotions during one hot summer at boarding school. Farah Ali's TELEGRAPHY, published by CB Editions, is her second novel. Originally from Pakistan, Farah has been anthologised for the Pushcart Prize and is the reviews editor at Wasafiri. JEAN is the debut novel by London-based writer Madeleine Dunnigan, published by Daunt Books. She was a Jill Davis Fellow on the MFA programme at New York University. Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon with exclusive crafted subscriber benefits.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Reference Points Tom McCarthy  John McGahern Gerald Murnane   

I'm kicking off a 2026 preview with two of the most exciting emerging voices publishing books this January. I speak to them about how they wrote their novels, before asking which books inspired them along the way, and what their books and book selections say about the world today. If you're looking for your next great reads of 2026, look no further — Rippling Pages has you covered. We're going from Pakistan to a rural boarding school in 1970s London. In Pakistan, a young woman grapples with a strange, indefinable illness against a backdrop of political upheaval. In England, a teenager tries to make sense of his intense emotions during one hot summer at boarding school. Farah Ali's TELEGRAPHY, published by CB Editions, is her second novel. Originally from Pakistan, Farah has been anthologised for the Pushcart Prize and is the reviews editor at Wasafiri. JEAN is the debut novel by London-based writer Madeleine Dunnigan, published by Daunt Books. She was a Jill Davis Fellow on the MFA programme at New York University. Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon with exclusive crafted subscriber benefits.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Reference Points Mathias Énard - The Annual Banquet of the Gravedigger's Guild  Rachel Kushner - The Flamethrowers John McGahern - That They May Face the Rising Sun Gerald Murnane - The Plains Tom McCarthy - Remainder   Chapters 3.15 - illness and narrative voice 5.25 - feeling ill writing the book 10.15 - Madeleine's on Farah's narrator 12.30 - Madeleine's book 16.10 -  different kinds of love. 18.40 - Rippling Pages patreon 19.55 - a queer  story in the boarding school 21.50 - different kinds of intimacy 23.40 - precociousness 28.10 - bodies, illness and healing  33.00 - what these books say about the world.  38.00 - Dealing with fracture 40.50 - rippling pages bookshop 41.20 - Madeleine recommends 45.15 - Farah recommends. 

I'm delighted to be talking to Rali Chorbadzhiyska about her work as freelance editor, and we're asking what the road to publication really looks like.   It must be another edition of Ask the Curator. In these episodes, we go behind the curtain of the literary industry to ask another literary curator, how they do what they do. Over the years, Rali has worked at Penguin RandomHouse, Faber and Canongate, working with some of the biggest names in literature. But she recently went freelance to deliver on her aim of guiding writers refine and elevate their work. She was awarded with a Rising Star Award from The Printing Charity in recognition of her work. Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon with exclusive crafted subscriber benefits.  https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Links to Rali's services: https://www.ralieditorial.com/ https://www.instagram.com/reading.rali/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralieditorial/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reading.rali   Reference Points Farah Ali Raymond Carver V.S. Naipaul Erin Sommers Chapters 2.25 - what does Rali's work look like? 3.45 - Rali's ideal clients 4.50 - the importance of taking feedback 7.15 - strategies for taking and rejecting feedback 12.00 - finding people who champion you 15.20 - Do writers need to market themselves? 16.10 - Having ties to local communities. 17.40 - Rali's top tip  19.40 - books Rali is looking forward to in 2026

Welcome to some bonus content with Lee Cole, and we're talking about how he used an old book he found at his grandparents to help build the world and characters in his novels.  Plus, you're going to hear some extra bits about writing heroes and villains.  Fulfillment, Lee Cole's second novel, follows two half brothers whose clashing ambitions—Emmett's longing to be a screenwriter and his brother's academic ideals about “rural despair”—go beyond a simple difference in worldview. Something deeper threatens to pull them apart. Lee is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is also the author of Groundskeeping. Both his novels were published by Faber in the U.K. The New York Times has described his work as “Anne Tyler by way of Sally Rooney.” Originally from Kentucky, Lee joins me today from Philadelphia.   Buy Lee Cole's book here https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

Welcome to the latest episode of the Rippling Pages. I'm having a coffee with Lee Cole, the American writer from Kentucky. And we're talking about balancing the feelings and ethics of writing about home. Now living a humdrum life in Kentucky, Emmett spends his days packing boxes in a warehouse. But what happens when he begins to dream of another life—and when those dreams start to fracture his family relationships? These questions lie at the heart of Fulfilment, Lee Cole's second novel. The book follows two half brothers whose clashing ambitions—Emmett's longing to be a screenwriter and his brother's academic ideals about “rural despair”—go beyond a simple difference in worldview. Something deeper threatens to pull them apart. Lee is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is also the author of Groundskeeping. Both his novels were published by Faber in the U.K. The New York Times has described his work as “Anne Tyler by way of Sally Rooney.” Originally from Kentucky, Lee joins me today from Philadelphia. Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod   Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi   Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages   1.35 - Ann Tyler and Sally Rooney 5.05 - why Kentucky  7.25 - people who leave and stay in small towns  9.30 - why does Emmett wish he had what Joel has? 11.10 - southern fried rendition of Marx 12.10 - warehouses  16.12 - the difficulty of warehouse jobs  18.30 - Kentucky's beauty  19.45 - backgrounds and worldviews  21.45 - guilt about writing about home or  22.30 - rippling pages bookshop 23.35 - Alice's role 26.15 - Alice's dream of owning a farm  28.50 - knowing what our desires are  32.50 - writing about writers impulses Books Wendell Berry Annie Dillard Sigmund Freud Aldo Leopold Karl Marx Sally Rooney  Anne Tyler John Updike   

I'm talking with the essayist Joanna Pocock, and this is some bonus content from our original interview. America is a place that has compelled countless writers to travel its vast and varied landscapes.  Perhaps you've done it yourself. But what happens when you feel compelled to do it all again? That's the question at the heart of Joanna Pocock's essay, Greyhound (Fitzcarraldo Editions). Named after the iconic bus company whose intercity network carries passengers from Detroit to Los Angeles — and which Joanna relies on for her own journey — Greyhound revisits familiar motels, crossings, and bus stations she first encountered years before. Joanna's writing has appeared in the LA Times, Guardian US and the Nation among others. GREYHOUND is her second book, and her first, SURRENDER, won the Fitzcarraldo essay prize. Remember to like, share, follow, subscribe or leave a review if you enjoy the show. Joanna is talking about objects of influence, which are: Her notebooks Her photographs  Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

I'm talking to the Swedish writer, Agnes Lidbeck, in this special edition live episode of the Rippling Pages! We really did have a coffee with one of the world's, one of Sweden's most interesting writers, because as we were live in person with a live audience in Leeds! Life is full of adjustments - perhaps there isn't a bigger adjustment than having children. But what happens when you start to question your role in this adjustment? Crucially, what happens when a mother starts to question her role in this adjustment.  These are the questions at the heart of Agnes's novel, SUPPORTING ACT, published by Peirene Press and translated by Nichola Smalley.  It's a beautiful novel about fierce devotion in the face of fierce questions that need to be asked about why certain people seem to take on certain roles in society. Agnes is the author of five novels, but this was her first novel, and it's her first to be translated into English. She is a renowned name in Sweden on TV, radio, and Swedish letters. This book alone was the winner of the prestigious Bourous Debut Novel Prize. This is part of Modern Culture's programming of events called Stories from Sweden, so thanks to Martin Colthorpe for help making this happen.  Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Rippling Points 0.15 introductions.  3.25 - Agnes time in Leeds 4.35 opening to the novel 6.05 - Agnes and Jens 10.05 - Agnes's reading  14.00 - touch and tactility    17.10 - Swedish society and parental leave 19.50 - spiritual and physical pain of Anna.  22.00 - Jens and Ivan 24.25 - why is Ivan so compelling to Anna 27.15 - grips of passion   29.00 - rippling pages bookshop  30.15 - different modes of time  35.30 - Anna's dark thoughts  38.15 - Agnes's next book  40.45 - frustration and being kind to Anna 42.30 - a strange interaction in the street! 45.00 - questions from the audience - do you have a different relationship with Anna as a result of the translation  47.30 question from audience - is Anna a detached person, or detached as a result of motherhood. 49.00 - the power of translation  Reference Points Hjalmar Söderberg  Baruch Spinoza  Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina  Annie Ernaux  Wretchedness - Andrzej Tichý (translated by Nichola Smalley)

America is a place that has compelled countless writers to travel its vast and varied landscapes.  Perhaps you've done it yourself. But what happens when you feel compelled to do it all again? That's the question at the heart of Joanna Pocock's essay, Greyhound (Fitzcarraldo Editions). Named after the iconic bus company whose intercity network carries passengers from Detroit to Los Angeles — and which Joanna relies on for her own journey — Greyhound revisits familiar motels, crossings, and bus stations she first encountered years before. Joanna's writing has appeared in Granta, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and The London Review of Books, among others. GREYHOUND is her second book, and her first, SURRENDER, won the Fitzcarraldo essay prize. Remember to like, share, follow, subscribe or leave a review if you enjoy the show.    Reference Points - 1.40 - is Joanna a city or a country writer  - 3.20 - where the journey starts -  6.15 - why are there not more women on the road? -  09.00 - starting in Canada. -  11.05 - Borders -  12.15 - the people Joanna meets -  16.05 - the sense of perspective. -  17.50 -  people Joanna sees - 19.30 - Amarillo and fecal dust  - 23.00 - rippling pages podcast -  24.05 - the cost of travel -  26.35  - the bus as a political space -  30.30 - the enduring appeal of the American road. ***** Tickets for Agnes Lidbeck in Conversation  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/events/p/theripplingpagesliveoctober ***** Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Reference Points Ansel Adams Lewis Baltz Simone de  Beauvoir - America Day by Day Jack Kerouac - On the Road Irma Kirtz - The Great American Bus Ride Ethel Mannin - An America Journey Benjamin Markovits - The Rest of Our Lives William Least Heat-Moon - Blue Highways Ed Ruscha The Salt Path - Raynor Winn  

Welcome to the second edition of Rippling Pages: Ask the Host! It's time to answer some more questions from you, the listeners! So, that's what I've done: I've picked out some questions from the Rippling Pages inbox, and answered them! In this episode, I answer: - What I have been reading lately? - How are my French lessons going?  - How do I prepare for interviews? - What is my favourite bookshop? - What is my favourite season? - Who's going to win the Premier League and Women's Super League? Got a question yourself? Why not leave a review and a question and I might pick out one for a future show! ***** Tickets for Agnes Lidbeck in Conversation  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/events/p/theripplingpagesliveoctober ***** Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Reference Points Books On the Clock by Claire Baglin (translated by Jordan Stump). Daunt Books Lanre Bakare - We Were There (Penguin Books) The Unreliable Nature Writer by Claire Carroll  (Scratch Books)  Joy is My Middle Name by Sasha Debevec-McKenney (Fitzcaralldo Editions ) Failed Summer Vacation by Heuijung Hur (translated by Paige Aniyah Morris) Scratch Books Noreen Masud  - A Flat Place (Penguin Books) White Spines by Nicholas Royle (Salt Books)  Two Days, One Night (2014, directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne)

“It's almost a perfect work of art.” This is some bonus content from the previous episode with Gurnaik Johal where we talk about objects of influence.    The return of a potentially holy river in the Indian mountains - is it a sign of a new age, a divine intervention, or simply the workings of nature? These are the questions at the heart of Gurnaik Johal's novel, SARASWATI, published by Serpent's Tail. Frauds, politicians, mystics, writers, and the family who own the farm in which the river exists, are caught up in trying to determine what the return of the SARASWATI river means. It is a novel that is truly global in its scope, set in Canada, India, the Chagos Islands, and Wolverhampton. It was named as a Guardian newspaper selection for 2025, and shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. Gurnaik was a winner of the Galley Beggar short story prize.  Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

The return of a potentially holy river in the Indian mountains - is it a sign of a new age, a divine intervention, or simply the workings of nature? These are the questions at the heart of Gurnaik Johal's novel, SARASWATI, published by Serpent's Tail. Frauds, politicians, mystics, writers, and the family who own the farm in which the river exists, are caught up in trying to determine what the return of the SARASWATI river means. It is a novel that is truly global in its scope, set in Canada, India, the Chagos Islands, and Wolverhampton. It was named as a Guardian newspaper selection for 2025, and shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. Gurnaik was a winner of the Galley Beggar short story prize.  Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop all books are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medi Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages   Rippling Points 1.55 - what is the SARASWATI? 3.35 - the family connection  6.45 - river symbolism  8.20 - characters in the novel  10.30 - family dynasties and novels  11.55- reclamation 14.45 - rippling pages bookshop  15.30 - border conflicts  18.40 - human connection between  21 - romance in the novel  23.20 - the chagos islands  27.50 - how people communicate  29.30 - from short stories to novels  31.15 - being faithful to reality  34.35 - more advice for writers 

“I think when you're young you really allow yourself to be stupid.” Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Yan Ge. Yan Ge is here to discuss her life and writing. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province People's Republic of China. Emerging as a prodigious writer in Chinese and Sichuanese, she was named as one of China's twenty future literary masters by People Magazine. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the Prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. For English language readers, Nicky Harman first translated her novella, White Horse, for Hope Road publishing in 2014, a story about young girls negotiating adolescence in the presence of a mysterious white horse. Then, four years later, Nicky translated The Chilli Bean Paste Clan in 2018, published by Balestier. Elsewhere arrived in 2023 (Faber), and Yan Ge treated us to a new dimension of her work entirely: short fiction and, for the first time, written in English.   Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Rippling Points Chapters  - 3.30 - writing parts of ourselves that are distinct  - 7.35 - SBoC taking off  - 10.05 - identifying vulnerabilities  - 12.15 -all consuming spells of writing  - 16.45 - finding balance  - 20.15 - inspired by a younger self - 24.40 - The Chilli Bean Paste Clan - 27.35 - food in Yan ges work - 31.35 - Yan's parents   - 35.02 - Another Liam!   Reference Points Nicky Harman Jeremy Tiang  

”If I enter a project knowing what I'm going to do, confidently, I wouldn't do it.” It's Women in Translation Month! Yan Ge is here to discuss her life and writing. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province People's Republic of China. Emerging as a prodigious writer in Chinese and Sichuanese, she was named as one of China's twenty future literary masters by People Magazine. In 2012, she was chosen as Best New Writer by the Prestigious Chinese Literature Media Prize. For English language readers, Nicky Harman first translated her novella, White Horse, for Hope Road publishing in 2014, a story about young girls negotiating adolescence in the presence of a mysterious white horse. Then, four years later, Nicky translated The Chilli Bean Paste Clan in 2018, published by Balestier. Elsewhere arrived in 2023 (Faber), and Yan Ge treated us to a new dimension of her work entirely: short fiction and, for the first time, written in English.   Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Reference Points George Saunders   Rippling Points  Chapters 02.30 - connected by Leeds 4.20 - Drifting from the Chinese language 5.45 - Writing elsewhere in English 09.20 - Transforming the process 10:50 - A new relationship with language  14:05 - Linguistic and cultural experiences of the characters 16:47- Happiness 19:24 - Contentment and striving  21:00 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 23:41 - Making writing hard and easy 28:26 - Having belief  

“She starts having an experience to see her own life as a more shifting sands that isn't to be fear but in fact to be enjoyed.”   Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It's a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She's finding a new language. This is bonus content from the previous episode.  In this bonus content, I've asked Kimberly to provide me with some objects that Kimberly associated with writing the book, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE. It's an interesting and new way to think about influence, and a way to understand both the book and the writer a bit more.  We talk about a flag, a musician, Alan Stivell, and something called a ‘Fest Noz', all of them relating to the culture of Brittany where the novel is set. Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Rippling Points 1.54 - Proust and Memory 04.01 - Objects of influence 06.21 - Fest Noz 07.01 - Alan Stivell 08.29 - The Brittany Flag, the Blanche Ermine   Reference Point Jonathan Culler Arthur Rimbaud  

“How do you sound like you know what you're doing when you don't have the words” Kimberly Campanello is here to talk about her novel, USE THE WORDS YOU HAVE (Somesuch Editions). It's a sweltering summer in Bretagne, France. K, an American exchange student, is navigating more than just unfamiliar streets. She's finding a new language. Kimberly's work moves between forms, genres, and histories. She's the author of MOTHERBABYHOME (zimZALLA), a harrowing and formally innovative response to Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes, is held in the national poetry special collections across the U.K and Ireland. Her poetry has appeared in publications like Granta, The White Review, and The Poetry Review, and essays in Tolka. And, this year, her poetry collection, AN INTERESTING DETAIL was released by Bloomsbury.  Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Rippling Points 01:30 - Motherbabyhome 02:07 - From motherbabyhome to Use the words you have 05:38 - What is the novel about 08:02 - Sounding like you know what you're doing when you don't 09:51 - Differences poetry and the novel 11:46 - Who is K 14:16 - Belief and reading 15:58 - Making sense through Rimbaud 16:28 - Life in the Midwest 20:03 - Rippling Pages Bookshop 21:05 - K in Paris 22:16 - K's notebook 25:37 - Wonky translations 29:19 - Kimberly's notebooks. Reference Points Hart Crane Dante Marguerite Duras Annie Ernaux Tony Harrison Marcel Proust Arthur Rimbaud  Nathalie Sarraute Bruce Omar Yates review https://thelondonmagazine.org/review-use-the-words-you-have-by-kimberly-campanello/

“I found myself writing an apology letter…and I didn't know what I was apologising for.” In Uttama Kirit Patel's novel, The Shape of an Apostrophe (Serpent's Tail), Lina is pregnant, and she's finding that this seemingly salubrious society is not congenial and accommodating to the difficult challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. Uttama, born to Gujarati parents who then since found their way to the United Arab Emirates via Kampala, Surat, Pondicherry and Colchester. Her short fiction was nominated for the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for emerging writers. Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink  Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Reference Points Helen Phillips - The Need Rippling Points .30 - Uttama's life living around the world. 2.47 - An unexpected pregnancy 3.45 - Limited reproductive rights and setting the novel in Dubai 5.47 - writing a novel about someone who doesn't want children 6.30 - Uttama writing an apology letter to herself 7.59 - On desire 11.17 - Lina's relationship with her parents 12.57 - Does Lina have a support network? 14.03 - Lina's husband and her mother-in-law 16.44 - Is Lina's mother-in-law a feminist? 22.27 - Uttama's interest in sea-life. 24.10 - Lina's feeling of loss 26.41 - Lines, traces and artistry of Lina in the novel. 32.45 - Uttama's writing journey

“When I set out to plan the business, I wrote ten words - the world I always kept coming to was community.” The Rippling Pages is all about curating the best writers to inspire you and your writing - today, we're speaking to another curator. Eden Barnes is the owner of Next Chapter Books, an indie women-focussed bookshop in Leeds, and I had a quick chat with her in store.  There's lots going on this week in Leeds. Leeds Lit Fest is starting, and it's Indie Bookshop Week. Here someone who is at the centre of it. Eden tells us: The personal journey to opening a bookshop in Leeds Why she focusses women's writing Balancing commercial and personal interests Creating a safe space and sense of community for readers What she's got planned for next week and the rest of the year.   Remember, if you buy from Rippling Pages Bookshop on bookshop.org.uk are all sourced from indie bookshops! https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink   Check out Next Chapter Books website: https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/ Tickets for Leeds Lit Fest Events: https://www.leedslitfest.co.uk/ Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages 

"It is also difficult to imbue the people and the movements of the past with the complexities we offer ourselves."  If you were to meet a time traveller from the future, what would you ask them? This is the question Roisin Dunnett asks in her novel, A LINE YOU HAVE TRACED (Magpie Books/Oneworld Publications). Spanning over three centuries, three women are connected by forces they, at first, don't understand. From post-WWI Britain, to East End London's modern queer scene, to a portentous dystopian future, Roisin's novel is coded with messages between the past, present and future. It's published by Magpie Books, an imprint of Oneworld.   You can buy A LINE YOU HAVE TRACED from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Support the Rippling Pages on a new Patreon https://patreon.com/RipplingPagesPod?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink   Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages    Rippling Points 2.01 - the past, present and future. 3.55 - is there a past event that influenced this novel? 6.45 - Narratives of women 10.16 - which character did Roisin write first? 11.33 - Why do characters feel out of time 13.02 - Visions and dreams in Roisin's novel 19.24 - what would we do if we could actually see the future? 24.30 - The marshes in Roisin's novel.  29.24 - Does your dad pick up litter? 30.59 - Roisin's writing journey     Reference Points Charles Dickens

“They got fired for that!” Katharina Volckmer is here to discuss her second novel, Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes (Indigo Press) and it was live at the Hyde Park Book Club! Thank you to the Hyde Park Book Club for hosting us and Next Chapter Books for supporting the event. This is the second part of our conversation.  Katharina's first novel, THE APPOINTMENT, was translated into over fifteen languages, it was adapted for the stage starring Camille Cottin and was nominated for several prizes. Katharina is in ribald mode in this funny, outlandish, and yet, very melancholic novel about a man called Jimmie who works in a call centre. Jimmie helps holiday makers.  He placates their fears about sharks in the waters of Mykonos, Greece, among many other strange and wonderful challenges.  He also manages a complicated relationship with his mother and has a traumatic memory of an electric carving knife that threatens to burst to the surface. The Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, said the book is ‘filled with brilliant dialogue, unexpected turns, some very dirty talk with sudden bursts of hilarity, and then fierce sadness.' A special treat here - Leeds based poet Kirsty Went gave a reading for, some of her work to open the event. We've re-recorded for the purposes of the podcast. You can buy CALLS MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING AND MONITORING PURPOSES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Where to find Next Chapter Books:  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/    Rippling Points  1.35 - writing about mothers and fathers 5.03 - clowns 9.45 - on jokes and fantasies  11.23 - Kirsty Went reading  14.19 - questions from the audience - where does the relentless comic vulgarity come from? 20.10 - question from the audience - does this book fit into the wonderfully weird fiction category? Can we have more daring takes in fiction?  23.35- question from the audience - did Katharina know the book would end in this subversive way?  Reference points Thomas Bernhard 

Katharina Volckmer is here to discuss her second novel, Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes (Indigo Press) and it was live at the Hyde Park Book Club! Thank you to the Hyde Park Book Club for hosting us and Next Chapter Books for supporting the event. Katharina's first novel, THE APPOINTMENT, was translated into over fifteen languages, it was adapted for the stage starring Camille Cottin and was nominated for several prizes. Katharina is in ribald mode in this funny, outlandish, and yet, very melancholic novel about a man called Jimmie who works in a call centre. Jimmie helps holiday makers.  He placates their fears about sharks in the waters of Mykonos, Greece, among many other strange and wonderful challenges.  He also manages a complicated relationship with his mother and has a traumatic memory of an electric carving knife that threatens to burst to the surface. The Irish writer, Colm Tóibín, said the book is ‘filled with brilliant dialogue, unexpected turns, some very dirty talk with sudden bursts of hilarity, and then fierce sadness.' You can buy CALLS MAY BE RECORDED FOR TRAINING AND MONITORING PURPOSES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages  Where to find Next Chapter Books:  https://www.nextchapterleeds.co.uk/  Rippling Points 05.07 - Katharina's tour of Leeds. 05.49 - What's Katharina's novel about? 08.11 - Jimmie's need for the toilet in the opening scenes! 10.28 - A reading from the novel. 14.07 - Life in a call centre. 16.42 - Experience of moving abroad 19.03 - Why people overshare 20.33 - Differences between this novel and Katharina's previous novel 24.14 - Intimacy and speaking to strangers 26.14 - The other side of anonymity 28.25 - Kafka   Reference Points Franz Kafka The Appointment - Katharina Volckmer

Welcome to the first edition of Rippling Pages: Ask the Host! Over the years, I've been asking the questions, but it's about time I answered some too. So, that's what I've done: I've picked out some questions from the Rippling Pages inbox, and answered them! In this episode, I answer: - Where am I from? - Why did I start the podcast? - Who would I like to interview? - What books have I enjoyed recently? - Would I rather speak every language or to every animal?! Got a question yourself? Why not leave a review and a question and I might pick out one for a future show! ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** Don't forget there's a Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages ***** Lots of books and writer's mentioned in this one Reference Points: Alice Chadwick - Dark Like Under (Daunt Books) Anton Chekhov Vincent Delacroix - Small Boat (Hope Road Publishing) - translated Helen Stevenson Gurnaik Johal - Saraswati (Serpent's Tail) Vincenzo Latronico Tiago Miller Iris Mwanza Oluwaseun Olayiwola - Strange Beach (Fitzcarraldo Editions) Pola Oloixarac Mercè Rodereda Montserrat Roig - The Song of Youth (Fum d'Estampa) Montserrat Roig - Goodbye Ramona (Fum d'Estampa) Montserrat Roig - The Time of the Cherries (Daunt Books) Anthony Shapland - A Room Above a Shop (Granta Books) Olga Tokarczuk Virginia Woolf

"She finds herself in London working in a theatre having to touch people!"   Elaine Garvey, to discuss her novel, THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT, published by Canongate Books. It's 2002. Mairéad Sweeney has moved from rural Ireland to work in London's West End. While the prestige of working in theatre doesn't exactly wear off, the long hours and spoiled actors make Mairéad's transition from Ireland more difficult than it should be. Things get even more difficult when Mairéad has to return home for her grandmother's funeral. It's here she begins to reconcile with the life, people and values she left behind. This is Elaine's first book. She has been published in the Dublin Review and the Winter Papers, and has been awarded funding schemes by the Irish Department of Arts for her writing. ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE WARDROBE DEPARTMENT from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Rippling Points 1.31 - Why the year 2002? 4.32 - books about women walking. 5.39 - who is Mairéad and why is she in London 7.39 - what is the wardrobe department 9.40 - shadowing the costume department! 12.10 - differences between London and Mairéad's home in Ireland. 13.34 - Mairéad's family. 14:40 - Mairéad's boss. 18.15 - Similarities to the Milkman 21. 16 - when is Mairéad's moment of realisation 23.48 - Choosing your words and religion. 27.29 - Is how Mairéad feels about Ireland different to Elaine? 29.15 - how the novel emerged from a short story. Reference Points Anna Burns - Milkman Charlotte Brontë - Jane Eyre Seamus Heaney - Sweeney Astray Hilary Mantel - The Mirror and The Light Herta Müller - The Land of Green Plums Rozsika Parker - The Subversive Stich Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway

“It's my mum's favourite book that I wrote!” Benjamin Markovits is here to talk about his new and twelfth novel, THE REST OF OUR LIVES, published by Faber and Faber. Tom Layward has made a pact with himself. After his daughter moves out of college, he's moving out too. His wife had an affair, and he feels like he owes himself a road trip across America. He takes  in the sights, sounds and basketball games of the American heartland and beyond. But he's deferring some health issues and it seems like it's only a matter of time before his body asks him to stop and slow down, some of which was inspired by Ben's own experiences.   Ben's novel, You Don't Have to Live Like This, won the James Tait Black Prize for fiction. He was a Granta Best of Young British Novelists. His writing has featured prolifically in mainstream publications.  We discuss: Are families about power dynamics? Hear about Ben and I reflecting on our family life Is Steph Curry Benjamin's new obsession instead of Michael Jordan? Why is Syme, Ben's first novel, his mum's favourite novel?   ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE REST OF OUR LIVES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

‘The people I like to write about are what I would describe as moderately successful failures.' Benjamin Markovits is here to talk about his new and twelfth novel, THE REST OF OUR LIVES, published by Faber and Faber. Tom Layward has made a pact with himself. After his daughter moves out of college, he's moving out too. His wife had an affair, and he feels like he owes himself a road trip across America. He takes  in the sights, sounds and basketball games of the American heartland and beyond. But he's deferring some health issues and it seems like it's only a matter of time before his body asks him to stop and slow down, some of which was inspired by Ben's own experiences.   Ben's novel, You Don't Have to Live Like This, won the James Tait Black Prize for fiction. He was a Granta Best of Young British Novelists. His writing has featured prolifically in mainstream publications.  ***** Tickets to Katharina Volckmer in conversation! https://www.seetickets.com/event/katharina-volckmer-in-conversation/hyde-park-book-club/3381984 ***** You can buy THE REST OF OUR LIVES from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Rippling Points 2.42 - Why Tom goes on a roadtrip 4.12 - Feelings of failure and sport 7.10 - Constructing the narrator 9.00 - Tom's difference to other narrators of Ben's 11.30 - Pick-up basketball 15.15 - East Coast privilege 16.00 - The NBA - basketball and race 21.20 - Katharina Volckmer in conversation  22.45 - Tom's relationship with his children 23.57 - Tom and Ben's illness 26.58 - Matters of life and death 28.10 - Doctors and writers 29.45 - Ben's next steps Reference Points Philip Roth John Updike Ben's novels The Syme Papers Playing Days You Don't Have to Live Like This The Sidekick

"Taylor Swift is somebody who has managed to keep reinventing herself to stay relevant." Welcome to Rippling Points, more content and more insights and inspiration into the craft of literature: Marni Appleton is here to talk about her short story collection, I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, published by Indigo Press. We discuss: - How Taylor Swift's ability to reinvent herself and stay relevant differs to that of the characters - Ideas of productivity and how they shouldn't reflect your value in the world The modern world Marni presents to us in her stories is one that feels incredibly liberating, but then hinged by archaic attitudes from the past all at the same time. Women go viral on social media for seemingly innocent reasons; open and polyamorous relationships that suddenly feel shut; roles in theatre feel too close to real life. Marni holds a PhD in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. Her writing has been published in Banshee, The Tangerine, Contemporary Women's Writing. This is her first collection. You can buy I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages

"It builds to women and girls choosing to hide their mouths because of the effect of this trend...things just morph and take on different meanings as they're shared in different contexts" Marni Appleton is here to talk about her collection of short stories, I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, published by The Indigo Press. The modern world Marni presents to us in her stories is one that feels incredibly liberating, but then hinged by archaic attitudes from the past all at the same time. Women go viral on social media for seemingly innocent reasons; open and polyamorous relationships that suddenly feel shut; roles in theatre feel too close to real life. Marni holds a PhD in creative writing from the University of East Anglia. Her writing has been published in Banshee, The Tangerine, Contemporary Women's Writing. This is her first collection. You can buy I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Rippling points 2.00 - The women that inspired the stories 4.08  - Giving the characters control or not 5.41 - Moments in the Spotlight 8.26 - Marni's bold story titles 10.47 - Public and private selves 13.17 - Social media and the writer 14.15 - Theatre in Marni's stories 18.10 - The different lives characters have 20.15 - How Marni writes about men 23.10 - The significance of mirrors 25.30 - Safe spaces 27.07 - Different registers and discourses 29.16 - Marni's journey to getting the book published. Reference Points Melissa Febos Taylor Swift

"Being published in English is a big milestone..." Vincenzo Latronico is here to talk about his first novel translated into English - PERFECTION, published by Fitzcarraldo editions and translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes. Welcome to Rippling Points, more content insights and inspiration into the craft of literature: - How and why he set his novel in Berlin, or why locations don't become so important for the novel - The global market of translation and the pleasure of being translated into English Vincenzo is one of the most distinguished novelists writing in Italian today. He has also translated many books into Italian, by authors such as George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hanif Kureishi. In PERFECTION, there's something missing from Anna and Tom's life, and they can't quite put their finger on what it is that is missing. It drives them to impatience and to the point of leaving their apartment in Berlin. But is it merely an itch they cannot scratch, or does it relate to a deeper lack of authenticity that strikes their core? You can buy PERFECTION from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops as all sales are from indie bookshops! Interested in hosting your own podcast? Follow this link and find out how: https://www.podbean.com/ripplingpages Reference Points Elena Ferrante Minae Mizumura - The Fall of Language in the Age of English

“Love is a dangerous topic.” Vincenzo Latronico is here to talk about his first novel translated into English - PERFECTION, published by Fitzcarraldo editions and translated from the Italian by Sophie Hughes. Vincenzo is one of the most distinguished novelists writing in Italian today. He has also translated many books into Italian, by authors such as George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hanif Kureishi. In PERFECTION, there's something missing from Anna and Tom's life, and they can't quite put their finger on what it is that is missing. It drives them to impatience and to the point of leaving their apartment in Berlin. But is it merely an itch they cannot scratch, or does it relate to a deeper lack of authenticity that strikes their core? You can buy PERFECTION from the Rippling Pages bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ripplingpagespod Buying from this link supports the podcast (I receive a 10% commission) and indie bookshops! Rippling Points  2.18 - Desirability and Familiarity  4.27 - Driving the characters to dissatisfaction  7.05 - Does Vincenzo want us to ‘care' about the characters? 10.20 - Any city or Berlin 12.50 - The loss of authenticity  16.20 - Are Anna and Tom in love? 21.30 - Is there another side to Berlin? 23.45 - The migrant crisis and activism  29.15 - On being translated into English   Reference Points Hand Magnus Enzensberger  Michel Houellebecq  George Perec

“They had one objective - to get rid of certain men” Welcome to the first edition of Rippling Points - bonus content from last month's episode! A little bit more insight and a little bit more inspiration into the craft of writing! Here, you can hear Pola talking about her delve into the archives to learn more about Argentina in 1970s.  You'll then hear Pola talking about her next project, Bad Hombre - which features real life accounts collected from Pola of women who were wanting to ‘ruin men's lives'.   Pola Oloixarac, one of the most exciting voices in world literature today, was here to talk about her two novels that have been translated into English. Most recently SAVAGE THEORIES and then MONA (translated by Roy Kesey and Adam Morris). Both are published by Serpent's Tail. She was named by Granta as one of the Best Young Spanish novelists as well as this and has written for a wide range of publications and is an Eccles Centre Fellow SAVAGE THEORIES is a metaphysical, intertextual journey set in 1970s Buenos Aires. Rosa Ostreech struggles with her thesis on violence and culture and sleeps with a bourgeois former guerrilla while trying to kidnap her elderly professor. MONA is a satirical novel set within a global literary prize-giving event. It's about the fetishisation of characteristics and the global market place of writers.  Buy Savage Theories here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/savage-theories-pola-oloixarac/2102898?aid=15004&ean=9781800818187 Buy Mona Here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/mona-pola-oloixarac/6331115?aid=15004&ean=9781788169899

“I think it's much more interesting to explore women through their powers.” Pola Oloixarac, one of the most exciting voices in world literature today, is here to talk about her two novels that have been translated into English. Most recently SAVAGE THEORIES and then MONA (translated by Roy Kesey). Both are published by Serpent's Tail. She was named by Granta as one of the Best Young Spanish novelists as well as this and has written for a wide range of publications and an Eccles Centre Fellow   SAVAGE THEORIES is a metaphysical, intertextual journey set in 1970s Buenos Aires. Rosa Ostreech struggles with her thesis on violence and culture and sleeps with a bourgeois former guerrilla while trying to kidnap her elderly professor. MONA is a satirical novel set within a global literary prize-giving event. It's about the fetishisation of characteristics and the global market place of writers.  There's also a festive treat for you in this episode. In the break, hear a reading from A POEM FOR EVERYDAY OF CHRISTMAS edited by Allie Esiri (MacMillan). I read Lemn Sissay's ‘Let There Be Peace'.   Reference Points Thomas Bernhard Robert Bolano Karl Ove Knausgaard Dark Constellations - Soho Press

"I think it's a story few people have told before. And it's really about, what does a defender of human rights look like?" Iris Mwanza is here to talk about her novel, THE LION'S DEN (Canongate Books). Iris's novel is about a human rights lawyer, Grace Zulu, whose client Willbess ‘Bessy' Mulenga, has been arrested for offences ‘against nature. It launches Grace, and Iris, into the underbelly of the legal system. Iris is deputy director of the Gender Equality Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she leads strategy and investment for the Women in Leadership portfolio, and she has previously worked as a corporate lawyer in both Zambia and the US. Rippling Points 01.35 - Recording on the morning of the American election 02.41 - Who are the main characters 05.45 - Public institutions, the global south and colonialism 08.59 - When Iris saw the system for what it was 11.17 - ‘True believers' who inspired this novel 13.41 - Why Grace is the way she is 16.09 - Grace's clashes write father Sebastian 21.27 - Guilt 26.10 - The tragedy of Bessy's case 28.01 - Challenges promoting the book in Zambia 30.23 - Writing the court room Click here for links to all Rippling Pages socials

“The book is me trying to have a conversation with my father and reach a middle ground.”   Friða Ísberg is here to talk about THE MARK (Faber and Faber) translated by Larissa Kyzer. The book centres on a referendum in Iceland about whether mandatory tests should be imposed on its citizens. Friða talks about writing over the divide, arguments with her father, and Icelandic literary culture and how they have all shaped the book.  Rippling Points 02:05 - what is the mark? 04:12 - where are the divides? 06:30 - working in London while Brexit happened 08:07 - Frida's relationship with her dad and how it informed The Mark 11.15 - feeding emotion into a novel 13:46 - is it easier to write characters we agree with? 18:31 - Icelandic meaning of The Mark and how it relates to divides. 21:25 - why an empathy test? 25.51 - who is profiting from the mark? 28:30 - is one in ten a published writer in Iceland? 31:22 - do writers have a public duty? Reference Points Writers Fernanda Melchor Jacqueline Rose George Saunders Ali Smith Films There's Something About Mary (1998, dir: Peter and Bobby Farrelly)    

“Some people have been, oh these women are so grotesque. I don't think they are! They're quite relatable.”   Naomi Wood joins me to discuss THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS (Published by Orion) It's a collection that features the BBC Short Story Prize winner, Comorbidities. We talk about different kinds of intimacy in the stories, and how or why Naomi often writes about mothers in the . Naomi also talks about the craft and how she clashed registers to dazzling effect. Naomi Wood is the bestselling author of The Godless Boys, Mrs. Hemingway and The Hiding Game. As a novelist, her books have won a Jerwood Award, the British Library Hay Festival Prize, and been shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the Historical Writers Golden Crown. Mrs. Hemingway was a Richard and Judy Bookclub pick in 2014 and a Chanel Bookclub pick in 2023. Rippling Points 1.45- comorbidities and winning the bbc short story prize award  5.34 - pie charts' 8.17 - on writing about mothers 10.29 - transgressive actions in characters 12.07 - complicated or bad?  15.48 - what's a register clash? 18.54 - are they healing? 23,20 - influence of the pandemic and previous novels  27.30 - what do we do with old me? 29.04 - what's next for Naomi?   Reference Points Rachel Cusk Yan Ge Ernest Hemingway    Elizabeth Morris' Crib Notes: https://cribnotesbookclub.substack.com

"I think their experience in the bookstore is trying to think literary inheritance and spiritual and intellectual experience." Sam sax is here to discuss YR DEAD, their debut novel about Ezra, a queer, non-binary 27-year-old of Jewish heritage, whose life we see in fragments and flashbacks when they self-immolate outside trump tower. We talk about qualities of wandering, the multiplicities of Jewish identities, and what second hand bookstores can tell us about legacies and life. Sam's PIG was named one of the best books of 2023 by New York Magazine and Electric Lit. They're also the author of Madness, winner of The National Poetry Series and ‘Bury It' winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets YR DEAD is published by McSweeney's in the US and Daunt Books in the UK Reference Points  01.30 - who is Ezra 02.20 - is Ezra a flaneur? 04.53 - why the novel is set on this day 06.28 - the multiplicity of Jewish identity 09.40 - how death or organises or doesn't organise the novel 15:00 different desires 19:20 - Ezra's mother and her absence 24.25 - second hand bookshops and legacies 29.00 - the hopeful message of Sam's novel Reference Points Hervé Guibert Andrea Lawlor Virginia Woolf

"I'd done a lot of clay-making...you can spend a lifetime and only get good at one technique!" Jennifer Lucy Allan joins me to talk about her second book, CLAY: A HUMAN HISTORY (White Rabbit Books). After Jennifer's exploration and writing about sound in The Foghorn's Lament (White Rabbit Books), Jennifer has, quite literally, turned her hand to a more physical and enduring substance in clay. From Japanese Tea Ceremonies, to humans making their own image, to life on Mars, clay is seemingly everywhere. Jennifer is also a presenter on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction.  Rippling Points 1.20 - How Jennifer's early experience with clay led to her enchantment of it and then writing this boundless history 6.04 - How the book on clay differs to Jennifer's previous book on foghorns 10.30 - Ephemerality of sound and permanence of clay - the writing challenges. 13.40 - Clay: its history compared with human history 15:15 - Who is Marija Gimbutas, and why is she important 21:15 - Language and touch 24.40 - Climate change and how it's revealing more about clay 28.00 - How clay becomes an object Reference Points Marija Gimbutas. Ladi Kwali Maria Martinez    

"This book is begging to be written...It has this a frontier-ness to it..." Bruce Omar Yates is here to discuss his upcoming novel published by Dead Ink Books, THE MUSLIM COWBOY .  In a contemporary and entertaining novel set in aftermath of the Iraq war, a man who is obsessed with old Western movies dresses in double denim and roams a lawless landscape in search of his own Western story.  Rippling Points 1.32 - Bruce's family and how these fed into ideas about a 'muslim cowboy' 4.30 - Nameless and speechless: playing with the archetype of the cowboy 6.20 - Song writing in Nashville to writing this novel 8.40 - Iraq as the setting for the novel 12.00 - Removing binaries around what is good and not good 17.33 - A camel and child - the other characters 20.53 - The novel as a sandbox 25.30 - The act of making his characters watch westerns Reference Points Aladdin (1992. Dir: John Musker and Ron Clements) David Foster Wallace Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes  Lucky Luke - Goscinny Once Upon a Time in the West (1969. Dir: Sergio Leone) The Road - Cormac McCarthy (2006) Shane (1953. Dir: George Stevens) True Grit (1969. Dir: Henry Hathaway) Zadie Smith

"The smotheringly neutral voice" Claire Carroll is here to talk about her new and debut collection of short stories THE UNRELIABLE NATURE WRITER. A truly candid insight into the workings of craft and being a writer from one of the most exciting and upcoming fiction writers today. THE UNRELIABLE NATURE WRITER is published by Scratch Books - more here Rippling Points 2.00 - Claire's dreams and reading. 4.55 - The different personal and impersonal voices in Claire's work 10:37 - Being a writer and knowing or not knowing answers 13:12 - Unreliable narrators and what they mean to Claire 18:00 - How and why Claire writes about animals. 24:30 - The challenge of having 'authority' on the climate crisis 28.40 - Giving the stories a sense of wonder 30:00 - Claire's book tour!   Reference Points Franz Kafka Cormac McCarthy - The Road Ben Pester Saba Sams Samantha Walton - The Nature Cure  

"The garden is a co-author" Marchelle Farrell is here to talk about her essay in a new anthology from Daunt Books, BY THE RIVER: ESSAYS FROM THE WATER'S EDGE. I've wanted to talk to Marchelle since the publication of UPROOTING: FROM THE CARIBBEAN TO THE COUNTRYSIDE - Canongate Books), so it was great to have her here when she's part of an anthology featuring the likes of Caleb Azumah Nelson and Tessa Hadley. Marchelle, a consultant psychiatrist as well as a writer, often blends personal history with reflections on how colonial history has shaped the world and behaviour Rippling Points 1.25 - The rivers that Marchelle writers about in her essay, 'Memory River 4.06 - the noise of the river and how it infiltrated Marchelle's dreams 7.08 - A sense of renewal and writing about childhood 9.00 - The pain and joy in revisiting childhood 12.34 - Marchelle's belief on balancing both pain and joy in life. 15.04 - The story of Marchelle's family and forgotten stories 18.23 - Can anything ever be permanently erased? 20.22 - Leaving space for the reader to make interpretations. 22.13 - The river and its links to colonial history. 25.22 - How the 'English' garden isn't so English. 28.20 - What is play and why is it important Reference Points Jo Hamya Amy Key Donald Winnicott